1965 Mercury Comet Cyclone SOHC 427 Heading To Auction

When Ford jumped from pushrod V8 engines to modular, overhead camshaft design, many enthusiasts cried foul. How dare Ford stray from its pushrod roots! But the truth of the matter is that Ford has long toyed around with overhead camshaft designs on its V8 engines, and even briefly put them into production. Known as the SOHC 427, these are the holy grail of engines for Ford muscle car enthusiasts.

The boys at Bangshift, apparently on a Comet craze as of late, came across this ’65 Comet Cyclone powered by one such SOHC 427, which is going up for sale at the Mecum auto auction.

Called the “Cammer” engine, the SOHC 427 was an answer to Chrysler’s Hemi, which was dominating every form of racing it took part in. Ford couldn’t match the vaunted hemispherical cylinder heads…but it could go overhead camshaft. This allowed the big block motor to spin easily up to 7,500 RPMs, and was rated from the factory at 616 horsepower and 515 ft-lbs of torque, though rumor has it the engine made much more.

The Cammer in this particular Comet AFX has been tweaked to the tune of 750 horsepower. But what makes this Comet AFX even more special is that it was briefly raced by Arnold Beswick, who spent most of the 1960’s racing for Pontiac. This car has been extensively documented, has had its suspension shortened and moved forward, and even has the original Cyclone wheel caps. The Comet goes on sale this May at Mecum’s Spring Classic auction.